A migratory narrative is based on a subject that moves from the primary location to a different setting. The approach is one of the ways used by different authors to show and describe how black people dealt with the migratory issues as slaves. The author tries to explain the impacts of such migrations from the social, cultural and political perspectives. Conde claims that the strategy often directs the migrants to the ancestral figures (p.103).
Tituba is a migrant who discovers her identity through various encounters she experienced by moving from one place to another (Conde 119). She is forced to migrate due to the worrying circumstances present in different locations. She still misses her home called Barbados and longs to go back one day. Tituba learns the healing talents from her guardian named Mama Yaya. In fact, Mama Yaya teaches her how to heal through mystical powers.
The ability to heal later made Tituba to be accused of being a witch when she goes to Salem. However, Tituba regarded herself as a healer and never thought she could indulge in the evil practices. Tituba only agreed to confess to be a witch when her master forced her to agree that she was practicing witchcraft.
Tituba is an orphan born after the dad raped the mother. The mother was hanged for attempting to kill the plantation owner. Tituba’s adoptive father died through committing suicide. The suicide incident made Tituba to be sent out of the plantation. Moving away from the plantation is her first migration as she moves from home to an unknown destination. Tituba is forced to leave since she has nobody to take care of her in the plantation. As a result, the slaves decide to take Tituba to Mama Yaya where she becomes a free woman. However, Tituba decided to associate with the slaves while at her new home.
Tituba is a free individual who decided to enter into slavery founded on love. She decided to marry Indian John who was also a slave. He exposes Tituba to the feelings that she had never experienced and negatively influences her personality. John is the reason why Tituba eventually migrates.
The migrations give Tituba nasty experiences that force her to go home finally. She finds out that the slaves are badly treated and thereafter decided to give them her gifts. The action taken by Tituba gives her a sense of freedom. She comes back wiser and older than before and uses her skills to improve the community. Tituba makes a plan on how to free the slaves with the help of Iphigene. The environment at home provides a safe place where she can use her powers freely to meet the goals.
Tituba is a native of Barbados, which is located in the Caribbean. Conde claims that Mr. Parris brought her to the state called Salem (p.132). Tituba came as a slave and a housekeeper since she was married to a slave named John Indian. She moved to Salem and thought she would start a new life with her husband. At home, she is accused of witchcraft that manifested itself when three girls start exhibiting strange behaviors.
Tituba admitted that she had dreams about the devil and gave the names of her accomplice. She is arrested but not sent to trial due to the confession she made. She was later sent to jail based on the ruling by the judges. The event is another migration she encounters from being a housekeeper to being a prisoner. However, she is forced to migrate since she admitted to have committed a crime that she did not commit. Tituba became the first person ever to declare to be a witch in Salem.
John only visits his wife a few times while in jail and eventually stops. Parris promises to pay Tituba’s freedom fee but fails to do so when Tituba recants her confession. In the end, Benjamin paid a sum of seven pounds for her release and she became his slave and lover. She eventually migrates to her birthplace with Benjamin.
Wherever Tituba went, she was always an outsider. She emerged as a dark-skinned foreigner and a salve. Being an outsider works to her advantage as it gives Tituba the freedom to choose whether to work alone or work with others. It gives her a sense of identity. The attribute forms the cause of cruelty and abuse that she experiences while she is with the leader of the Maroons.
The movements cause Tituba to interact with different people and can see how white people mistreat slaves. She experienced racism from both the slaves and white people. The blacks felt that she did not act like them.
Tituba tried to comprehend and enjoy her sexuality through her relationships with men. According to Conde, John was the first person to tell her that she was beautiful (p.178). The quality creates a conflict within her. She wants to be a free woman in control of her sexuality. The two elements do not go together and Tituba has to choose one. Given that Tituba is being ruled by her desires for men, she does not find easy to mingle with women in her life.
Her mother believes that to be empowered you do not have to depend on any man. She falls in love with John and decides to become a slave. Later in Barbados, she becomes Christopher’s lover and he uses sex to lure Tituba to use hers powers to make him invisible. When Iphigene is brought to Tituba for treatment, she starts a sexual relationship with him. Christopher thus ends up betraying Tituba based on the slave revolt she was planning, which makes her to be arrested and executed.
Throughout her journey, Tituba tries to obtain personal freedom. From the beginning, Tituba has no identity since she has never had an opportunity to know her father. Her life has very short episodes of stability. She longs to go back to her birthplace. She cannot identify herself with Betsey and Elizabeth despite being close friends. Tituba goes through hardships in exile. Although she is a slave in a faraway place, she still has roots in her island home and does not lose this part of her identity. When Tituba decides to follow John, she becomes docile.
She sacrifices resources for love and becomes like other women who are obedient and submissive. She meets Christopher when she returns to Barbados where she makes an offer to join him in the fight. At this point, she is ready to help the slaves and comes out courageous. She desires to see justice for the people. Her relationship with Iphigene brings out her maternal side as she takes care of him.
Tituba ends up being used by men who see her as a mere woman who cannot be respected. The only area that gives her the freedom she yearns for is her sexuality. She has no regrets for any of her sexual relationships and is proud of the knowledge she has and the powers she possesses (Conde 222). She ends up having an identity as a mother, healer, witch and a savior of her people.
Works Cited
Conde, Maryse. I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem. Charlottesville, Virginia: University of Virginia Press, 2009. Print.